<h1>1 son is doing his 3rd year time at sea on a containership making the Houston, Charleston, Norfolk, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe run. He just called home from Houston, since he'll be at sea over Christmas. We hope to intercept him in Norfolk on the 27th before he heads to Europe again. So far, so good - he's making progress on sea project and enjoyed a Christmas fair in Bremerhaven (and the local beer). Email has been poor at best, thank goodness for the cellphone (in US).</h1>
<p>no - seemed pricy and just got this one earlier this year. We use Nextel and the direct connect between KP and here works great. We bought an international phone card - ATT - pretty cheap, which he used calling from England. We could survive if he would email more often...but I'm obsessive. It's my job, I'm the mom. Got to go and wrap presents for the next 2 days now.</p>
<p>Weski - sooooo glad to have another parent in here. Before long, we'll be caught up with USNA & USMA parents! Sorry you don't have your son home for the holidays..... Hope he sends you a neat trinket from Rotterdam! How long is that run? Don't get scotch tape burn!</p>
<p>It's 11 days at sea between Rotterdam and Charleston - with no contact other than following the ship at <a href="http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/index.html</a>.
We are driving down to Norfolk to see him and ship and deliver (and maybe receive) Christmas presents. He asked for a "work jacket" from the surplus store so that "if it gets dirty or oil on it, I won't care." That and the new Clive Cussler book (plus other small goodies...)</p>
<p>I can't believe this seems to be the ONLY USMMA forum going -- I googled everywhere and the KP website stinks.</p>
<p>Nice to find a few other obsessive parents -- I wrote the original draft of "Plebe Tips" posted on the website.</p>
<p>We drove down to Norfolk - actually the Portsmith Marine Terminal on 12/27 to visit with our Engine Cadet. Wow - are ports confusing! Finding the right entrance and then avoiding getting run over by fast-moving container trucks is tricky & very impressive! Found containership, found son - nice to see him walking down the long stairs and then hugs around! Then he took us on a short tour of the ship - the crew of 21 in tall tower overlooking massive 950 foot ship. Met fairly laid back "Master" of the ship, saw his room (single - almost tidy) and got tour of the engine room - all 6 stories! Very large pistons and engines. Tip: don't wear good clothes - my parka has interesting grease stains from climbing a jillion stairs.</p>
<p>Best part - going out to lunch and opening gifts from Germany - HUGE chocolate Father Christmas plus other goodies - he done good! He has fairly civilized hours, is working on his sea project and seems busy, but happy. Enough to tide us over until the end of his tour at end of Feb.</p>
<p>This is his third-year (soph), 4 month stint at sea. Next year (Jr) they are gone for 8 months for a total of 300 days at sea to qualify for licensing. It is why Kings Point has a trimester system - they are really squeezing 4 years of classwork into 3 to schedule in the 300 mandatory sea days. Thus, the students are really squeezing a semester's worth of classes into a trimester. It is impressive. Sea time is something everyone looks forward to and either loves or hates. In the first "at sea" period, they are on one ship; the second time they are rotated on 3 ships so they can have experience on a variety of types i.e. container ships, diesel, military sealift, etc. When they graduate, they have a year of practical experience, putting them ahead of Annapolis graduates...:)</p>
<p>I was just wondering if he was in his 3rd Class year or if it was his third year at KP? My son will be in B slpit that goes out in June. I always wondered why B split goes out before A split?</p>
<p>It IS confusing - my son is a third classman (sophmore). They place students in A or B split based on their sports schedules. Fall sports are A split; spring sports are B split. Or that was the logic I was told. It's a scheduling device. Then you can split them up by "above or below deck" or by company. Thus most kids define themselves as being "4th Co, below decks, A split." Then you know who they live and train with, what they are studying and what their on/off campus schedule is...</p>
<p>Came through "loud and clear"...great pics Mom! Check out some earlier posts of my son aboard the barque Eagle this summer. Boy I envy these kids.</p>
<p>Boss: there is just something stirring about a sailing ship! What a different life it is/was! In comparison, the containerships are HUGE! And they are in and out of port in 12 hours or less. Don't get in the way of the trucks hauling in and out of the ports or you'll get run over. The bummer for the cadets is that they don't have much time to sightsee. Son says the port of Rotterdam is so large that it would take most of his free time just getting to/from the city! Think about it, ports aren't exactly "downtown" anymore. Other types of ships seem to get more touring time. He had a nice daytrip in Japan on a sealift command tour.</p>
<p>When I was a kid I had that dream of sailing around the world on a "tramp steamer"...visiting all the exotic ports of call. Sounds like your son is having the time of his life.</p>
<p>Very cool - what's the secret for not falling off the masts? Hope the "dears" had some Madeira...but probably not - WAY before their time and probably alcohol free trip?</p>
<p>Well not sure about that one but they had fun...they got "stuck" on Madiera for three extra days due to their plane being laid up with repairs(they cruise for a week then another group takes over and they fly back to the states). While they were there they went up in a hot air balloon, dived off cliffs and visited a 400 year old cathedral!</p>